Milwaukee Sends Socialists to the State Assembly

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Photo: Darrin Madison - Facebook

Darrin Madison Jr.

Darrin Madison Jr.

For the first time in nearly 90 years, the Wisconsin legislature has a Democratic Socialist caucus with the recent election of two representatives from Milwaukee Country to the State Assembly, Darrin Madison Jr. (District 10) and Ryan Clancy (District 19). Right-wing media will cry that the enemy has breached the gates, but Milwaukee had a long history of good government thanks to Democratic Socialists.

From 1910 through 1960 (with only a few breaks), Milwaukee was governed by Democratic Socialist mayors, a period that ended when incumbent Frank Zeidler decided he was too old to seek another term (he lived until 2006). Zeidler and his predecessors in Milwaukee’s city and county government, including Daniel Hoan (his memory honored by the bridge) and Charles Whitnall (for whom the park is named), were responsible for building much of the infrastructure that makes Milwaukee a great place to live.

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Photo: clancyforassembly.com

Ryan Clancy

Ryan Clancy

Democratic Socialists were credited for the County Parks, the old County Stadium (forerunner of today’s American Family Field), MATC, the educational stations that became Milwaukee PBS and much more.

Milwaukee’s Democratic Socialists were derided by radical leftists as “sewer socialists” for their focus on the nuts and bolts of running a city, including working sewers, running water and paved streets. It’s a label they came to wear proudly. Some of those radicals were in league with the people who gave socialism a bad name, the decidedly undemocratic Bolsheviks. Milwaukee’s Democratic Socialists were pragmatists building a better world brick by brick. Far from “taxing and spending,” they turned over every penny, trimmed waste and ran their administrations on tight budgets.

Many of the good governance issues addressed by Democratic Socialists in the past century are with us today. Darrin Madison explained his victory, saying, “By focusing on the needs of working people, like wages, health care, jobs and a fair justice system, we built a diverse coalition eager to make real, tangible improvement in the lives of Wisconsinites.” Ryan Clancy added that Democratic Socialist Alliance candidates “are winning in Milwaukee because we unapologetically represent the needs of working people, from protecting our public schools to investing in public transit to growing the resurgent labor movement in Wisconsin.”

Last April, a member of the Democratic Socialist Alliance, Juan Miguel Martinez, was elected to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.